Mar 5:1-7 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter we see in the first section the service of the Lord in the presence of satan. In the second section we see how He serves in the midst of situations that show man’s utter powerlessness and misery. There we see His service in cases of incurable illness and even death, and how people who acknowledge their hopeless condition do not call upon Him in vain. We see not only His victorious power, but also the extent of the deliverance. This too is all education for servants. They may know that He is with them in the storm. They may also know that His power is beyond the power of satan, sickness and death. These powers can also play a role in the lives of believers. If that is the case, they are impediments to serving the Lord: The first, the power of satan ( ), becomes public when the unbridled power of ancient nature is given the opportunity to assert itself. The second, the flow of blood ( ), is the uncleanness that comes out of us, defiling ourselves and those around us. The third, death ( ), is a condition in which believers sleep in such a way that to them must be called: “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead” ( ). These believers are in a state of sleep, which makes them indistinguishable from the dead. The Lord comes with His disciples safely across the sea. The elements of nature have not been able to stop Him and those who are with Him. Now they come into the land of the Gerasenes to serve there as well. As soon as the Lord sets foot ashore, a man from an environment that speaks of death comes to meet Him. While this man is outwardly surrounded by death, he has within him an unclean spirit that wants to bring him to death. A man could not be more wretched. The Holy Spirit gives a detailed description of the condition of the man. This is to warn us of the power of satan, of the untamed nature that is controlled by him. All the laws that men have made are made to tame the old nature. But it can never be tamed. Not even the law of God can. We can’t do it at ourselves either ( ). But the Lord Jesus can make His fiercest opponent His most devoted follower. The man is not accidentally among the tombs, but has “his dwelling” there. He is at home there. The dead are his companions. In all his personal misery, he is also an untamable danger to others. He is not maintainable in society and therefore expelled. In this man all the power of satan becomes public. No one is able to control him, let alone set him free. He spends night and day restlessly in the tombs, while satan incites him to madness and self-chastisement.

‏ Mark 5:1-7

Introduction

In this chapter we see in the first section the service of the Lord in the presence of satan. In the second section we see how He serves in the midst of situations that show man’s utter powerlessness and misery. There we see His service in cases of incurable illness and even death, and how people who acknowledge their hopeless condition do not call upon Him in vain. We see not only His victorious power, but also the extent of the deliverance. This too is all education for servants. They may know that He is with them in the storm. They may also know that His power is beyond the power of satan, sickness and death.

These powers can also play a role in the lives of believers. If that is the case, they are impediments to serving the Lord:

The first, the power of satan (Mk 5:1-20), becomes public when the unbridled power of ancient nature is given the opportunity to assert itself.

The second, the flow of blood (Mk 5:25-34), is the uncleanness that comes out of us, defiling ourselves and those around us.

The third, death (Mk 5:35-43), is a condition in which believers sleep in such a way that to them must be called: “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead” (Eph 5:14). These believers are in a state of sleep, which makes them indistinguishable from the dead.

The Gerasene Demoniac

The Lord comes with His disciples safely across the sea. The elements of nature have not been able to stop Him and those who are with Him. Now they come into the land of the Gerasenes to serve there as well.

As soon as the Lord sets foot ashore, a man from an environment that speaks of death comes to meet Him. While this man is outwardly surrounded by death, he has within him an unclean spirit that wants to bring him to death. A man could not be more wretched. The Holy Spirit gives a detailed description of the condition of the man. This is to warn us of the power of satan, of the untamed nature that is controlled by him.

All the laws that men have made are made to tame the old nature. But it can never be tamed. Not even the law of God can. We can’t do it at ourselves either (Rom 7:14-15). But the Lord Jesus can make His fiercest opponent His most devoted follower.

The man is not accidentally among the tombs, but has “his dwelling” there. He is at home there. The dead are his companions. In all his personal misery, he is also an untamable danger to others. He is not maintainable in society and therefore expelled. In this man all the power of satan becomes public. No one is able to control him, let alone set him free. He spends night and day restlessly in the tombs, while satan incites him to madness and self-chastisement.

A Demon Possessed Set Free

Then the great Deliverer appears on the scene. Without it appearing that the man has seen the Lord Jesus before, he recognizes Him from afar and runs to Him. The man does not know Him, but the demons who dwell in him know Him. They acknowledge Him as their Superior and honor Him through the man.

The man is identified with the unclean spirit. He doesn’t say ‘do not torment us’, but “do not torment me”. Thus in the believer the Holy Spirit identifies Himself with the believer in the most intimate way. Here too the demons acknowledge through the mouth of the man that there is no connection whatsoever between them and the Lord Jesus (Mk 1:24). They can rightly say “what business do we have with each other?” when it comes to any connection with Him. In another way they indeed do have to do with Him. For He is their Judge and will condemn them and cast them into hell. They speak to Him as “Jesus” – demons never speak to Him as “Lord”! – while they acknowledge Him as “Son of the Most High God”.

To these statements the unclean spirit comes after Christ’s command to leave the man. The Lord Jesus explicitly calls him “unclean spirit”. The man will have become very filthy spiritually with all kinds of ideas, so that he will not be able to think soundly. It is therefore a great grace of Christ that He comes to the man without him calling for help. The man could not do that. This is how Christ came to us when we were in the power of the devil.

The Lord wants the unclean spirit to fully speak out and expose himself. There must be nothing left behind in this man. Now it becomes clear that there are many demons in him: a legion. A Roman legion consisted of 6,000 men. Once the devil has entered someone’s life, he will take possession of that person more and more by letting as many demons as possible dwell in him.

After the Lord has asked for his name, the unclean spirit urgently implores Him not to send him and his fellow demons outside of the country. In doing so, they acknowledge His power. There appears to be a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The possession of swine indicates disobedience on the side of God’s people, for they are unclean beasts. He who owns a herd of them does not heed God’s precepts. The demons implore Him to send them into the swine. They want to exchange the man in the tombs for a new home in the swine.

The Lord allows the demons to go into the swine. Unclean spirits go into unclean beasts. By the demons going into the swine it is clearly shown that the dwelling of demons in humans is as certain and real as it is terrible. Their urge for destruction also becomes clear here. If the demons are capable of killing two thousand swine, how terrible the man must have been. How fortunate that the Lord Jesus appears in his life and sets him free!

The swine keepers haven’t been able to protect the herd from this outbreak. Powerless and anxious, they will have watched the behavior and demise of the swine. Instead of bowing down to the power of Christ, they flee to the city to tell there, and also in the fields, what happened. The people who hear it want to see it for themselves. They come to see what has happened.